Affections
by honeycomet
Summary: [Kid/Chrona, Maka/Chrona] Kid likes Chrona as a friend, he's certain of that, but Chrona has a little problem of her own.


**Affections**

**Author's Note:** Chrona's a female here. I have a preference towards fem!Chrona, so that's how I'll be writing her the majority of the time. Hopefully that's not too big of a deal.

**Disclaimer:** Soul Eater isn't mine.

* * *

She folds her hands in her lap, pale-looking and calloused from years of handling Ragnorok. She sits to the side a bit, somewhat away from the rest of us, and seems to be concentrating on something that's not the TV, loud and blaring about some show the others are interested in.

Casually, I sit beside her, close enough to be considered close but still not right next to her – if that makes sense – and she drags her eyes from her concentration over to me.

"Hello," I say to her, in a friendly way, and she smiles and nods shyly at me in response. I can already pinpoint the slight grey dusting that forms on her pale cheeks, grey from her black blood, and notice the way her fingers grip into the fabric of her robe, only slightly and barely noticeable.

"What are you doing?" I ask her.

She fumbles with her robe a little, before replying, "Nothing much." Her voice soft and rather quiet, and barely able to be heard over the noise of the TV and the others' voices.

I nod at her reply, and ask her, "Are you watching the TV?"

"Not really," she replies, her eyes slowly moving to look at other parts of the room. She does that a lot around me, I've noticed, and briefly wonder if it's because of my own eyes. They're very gold and piercing, apparently, and they certainly contrast her own – watery and dark blue and rather unfocused.

"I'm not really watching it, either," I say, and her eyes stray back to me. "Do you mind if I sit a little closer?"

"No, not at all," she says, giving me another one of her nervous smiles.

I shuffle closer to her on the seat, but not close enough to be touching her in any way, and put my own hands on my legs, and smile gently at her again, and she smiles back. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the way her own hands relax into her robe.

-x-x-x-

Basketball is certainly fun, but when one of your opponents is Black Star, at some point it just becomes tedious and tiring. Luckily he doesn't manage to get many wins, for all he boasts. His self-confidence is certainly admirable, if rather obnoxious at times.

After many games, I call the quits and drop to the sidelines. Chrona sits alone in the bench under the tree, having stopped playing a while before me. She seems to be zoned out again, concentrating on something only she can see, or maybe nothing at all.

"Hi, Chrona," I say to her, and she looks up at me at that. "Can I sit here?" I ask her, to which she nods briefly. I sit down on the bench beside her, again close but not quite close.

"Is basketball fun for you?" I ask her. She looks at me again, and looks away briefly, before she replies.

"It's… fun, but it's also really tiring," she says quietly.

"That's understandable. Playing with people like Soul and Black Star is certainly very challenging," I respond, and she looks up to me again, this time with a small smile. I notice the slight grey blush on her cheeks comes back, rather faint but still noticeable.

"Is there something on your mind?" I ask her, which certainly catches her attention. "You seem to be spacing out a lot lately."

She pauses, looking away again before looking back at me. "Ah… it's… just some things I'm thinking about," she murmurs.

"Is it anything you want to talk about?"

Her attention is caught again at that, and she fumbles with her hands slightly. "Uhm… I don't know…"

Gently, I place a hand on her shoulder. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. I was just curious."

"Ah…" she says, going slightly greyer at my contact, "Uh, well… Maka says I should talk about things that bother me… you know? But… well, I'm not sure…"

"Is it a big problem?"

"Oh, no! No, well… I don't think so… uhm. It's a bit complicated," she says again, her voice slightly quietening in the middle. She grips the fabric of her purple jumpsuit.

"How so?" I ask.

"Uh… well… I'm not sure if… I want to talk to Maka about it, see…" she mumbles, hands fumbling nervously.

"So, does it involve Maka?"

"Well… yes… but it's not, like, a problem… as in… uhm… a problem, er, you know?"

I _think_ I can get what she's trying to say. "So, it concerns Maka, but not in a normally problematic way? And you're confused about it?"

"Ah! Yeah, confused, yeah…" she says, "I'm a little confused about… about my feelings."

"Is it anything you want to talk to me about?" I ask her gently.

"I… I don't know," she says, voice turning to a murmur again. I pat her shoulder.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. Take your time."

She looks at me again, and I smile warmly at her and she smiles back. I rub her shoulder and then drop my hand but not my gaze. I notice Chrona getting slightly edgy again and she averts her gaze, fingers fumbling.

"Chrona?" I say, and she turns to face me again. I've noticed her messy pink hair is hanging over her forehead rather asymmetrically. I raise a hand to brush at her hair, and she falters slightly as I do so but doesn't back away completely.

"Tch, your hair's very untidy today," I say as I try to comb her hair with my fingers.

"Is… is it fixable?" she asks nervously.

"Yes, but…" I begin, trying to coax her bangs into an agreeable position, "It might need something more to fix it…" Sighing, I drop my hand, now a little frustrated over the asymmetry of her fringe. "I guess I could fix it later."

Chrona looks at me in a curious way, and she nods. I nod back and turn my attention back to the basketball game going on – currently, the team of Black Star, Soul and Liz are winning against Maka, Patty and Tsubaki. Still, the state of Chrona's hair itches at me from the back of my mind.

-x-x-x-

Later, after the basketball games and when we are settled back at Maka and Soul's apartment – with Maka and Tsubaki cooking up a delicious-smelling lunch – I search around the premises for a comb, and one fails to turn up after a quick search around.

I end up having to ask Soul for one, who points to his room, and I end up finding it stuffed in the bottom of a drawer next to his bed.

I find Chrona again, sitting alone at the dining table opposite Black Star and Soul, currently chatting like "bros" and gorging on soda, much to Liz's disproval – she sits the side. Patty sits next to her, making origami animals with several sheets of coloured paper – contrary to popular belief, Patty likes various kinds of zoo animals, not just giraffes.

Chrona is zoned out once more, head in her hands, and I suppose she's thinking about Maka again. I tap her on the shoulder and she looks up at me curiously. I hold up the comb and ask her, "Can I fix your hair?"

Chrona nods, and I take the seat she faces, and Chrona drops her hands from her head. I lean over to her and try my best to fix up her fringe up with the comb. The pink hair is rather disagreeable, I find, and I end up finding more and more mistakes as I go along, and end up combing all of her hair and not just her fringe like I'd previously intended.

After a while, about five minutes or so, I finally settle on a somewhat agreeable state for her hair. It's still slightly asymmetrical, but only slightly and is definitely topped by the wonderful symmetry. I set the comb down on the table – now springing with pink hairs – and say to her, "It's not perfect but I think that'll do."

"Does it look okay?" Chrona asks, nervously touching the top of her head.

"It looks fine," I say, nodding at her again, and she smiles at me openly. It really is such a sweet sight.

"Aww, that's _so_ cute!" Patty chirps, having paused from making origami animals – of which there are now several scattered around her side of the table. "Aren't they so cute together, Sissy?"

"I suppose," Liz replies offhandedly, currently focused on her nails.

"Making a move on your girl there, huh, Kid?" Soul asks, chuckling as he holds his can of soda, before taking a big drink of it.

"Oh, oh! Kid likes Chrona, Kid likes Chrona!" Black Star sings. I have a vague feeling they've both gotten drunk on the soda, if such a thing is possible.

I turn back to Chrona and she is looking back at me, blushing rather obviously. I smile and pat her shoulder, saying, "Don't worry about them, they don't mean too much by it."

She smiles again and I say, "At least your hair is mostly symmetrical now!"

"Mostly?" she asks.

I shrug. "I just did what I could do. But it looks good anyway," I say, and she smiles sweetly once more. Maka then calls that lunch is ready, and _Soul and Black Star you better ditch those damn sodas right now_, and she and Tsubaki start serving the food out.

Lunch progresses normally, with Black Star and Patty both devouring large amounts of food. Maka at one point compliments Chrona's hair, to which the pink-haired girl shyly says I did it for her, and Maka kindly thanks me for it, to which I respond that it wasn't too big of a deal.

Several points over the course of the meal, however, I notice Chrona glancing at Maka several times, and vaguely wonder what she might be thinking about the scythe meister.

-x-x-x-

After lunch the girls leave the table for the TV, dragging Chrona along with them. Black Star and Soul stay behind, bringing out the soda again, and I take a green can of soda when Soul offers one. Black Star toys with a few of Patty's origami animals as Soul chats to him about things, and I mostly just think of other things, and at some point briefly wonder how many pairs of jackets are in my closet.

"So, hey Kid!" Black Star says to me at one point, dragging me out of my thoughts. "How's things going with Chrona, _hmm?_"

Slowly I drink a little of the soda – a bit fizzy for my tastes, to be honest, but I think it'd be rude to just ditch it – and reply, "Things are going fine."

"Do you like her?" Black Star asks, an eyebrow raised questionably.

"Yes," I reply bluntly.

"Do you _like her_ like her?" he asks again, this time his tone of voice is rather suggestive.

"What do you mean?" I ask. "You're not being very clear."

"Come on Kid, get with the zone!" Soul growls at me, shaking his can a bit. "Are you attracted to Chrona or what?"

"Like in a romantic way?" I ask, "There are many types of attraction, you know."

"Yes, I mean in a romantic way, you doofus," Soul says, "So do you like her-like her or what?"

"I don't think so," I say. It's just a friendly relationship we have, isn't it? I like seeing her happy and smiling and everything, but I don't think that necessarily equates romantic love. It's just simple friendly affection, is all. I don't say these things out loud, however, the other two would probably just tease me over it.

Honestly, romance and sexual attraction just weren't my areas. The other two would certainly think of that as strange, but I wasn't interested in what they thought of it.

Soul chuckles and shakes his can once more. "You don't think so, huh, Kid? Say Black Star, do you think we should fix that?"

"Oh yeah!" the blue-haired boy replies, "We could lock them together in a closet for an hour and see what happens!"

"Er, do you guys know I'm right here?" I ask them.

"Yeah, yeah," Black Star says, "But it'd be an easy way to see what you _really_ think of her!"

"What I really think of her? We're just friends," I insist.

"Come on, man, play along with us here!" Soul growls, "Really, you have to admit that Chrona's a great option, don't you? Look at all the _potential!_"

"_Potential?_" I say. "Look, if you're trying to hook me up with her, please don't. I'm not interested."

"Not interested?! Come on, _you_ were the one combing _her_ hair just _moments_ before lunch!" Black Star says. "And you were _really_ serious about it! Seriously!" He begins to re-enact me combing Chrona's hair on Soul, who smacks him away.

"Tha-that was because her hair was asymmetrical," I stutter. At this point I think that they've drunk a _little_ too much soda and it's getting to their heads.

"Always with the damn symmetry," Soul mutters. "What's with you?"

"Hey, Kid, how symmetrical _is_ Chrona?" Black Star asks.

"Well, she is certainly very symmetrical, but she's also asymmetrical in places," I say. "It's quite bothersome."

Black Star chuckles evilly. "Hey, I'd bet you ten bucks she looks even _more_ symmetrical if you took off all her clothes!"

"W-what are you saying?!" I ask, flustered all of a sudden.

"Hey, look, see, the dude's _blushing!_" Soul cackles. "What we're _saying_, Kid, is that you need to get laid and Chrona's the perfect option for you!"

He and Black Star laugh at that. I sigh and slump backwards into my chair.

"_Again_ with the 'I need to get laid' thing?" I ask exasperatedly. Why were they always pulling that card out on me? "Why do you need to rope Chrona into this too? Besides, Maka has _perfect_ symmetry and you're not pulling her into this."

Soul rolls his eyes. "Look Kid, it doesn't matter who you're going with, you just need to get laid sometime! You're so uptight so much of the time, it'd be the _perfect_ break for you!"

"If it doesn't matter who I 'go' with," I say, starting to get really tired of this trail of conversation, "Then why don't _you_ just do it if you're so desperately wanting to get me laid?"

Soul and Black Star just bluntly stare as they absorb what I've just said.

Well. That certainly shut them up.

I take a slow drink of my soda.

Black Star bursts into laughter. "_Ahahaha!_ Man, Soul, didja hear _that?!_ Kid wants to fuck you!"

"_He didn't mean it like __**that** __and you __**know** __it!_" Soul cries angrily, and the two start chasing each other around the room, and then the rest of the house, drawing protests from Maka and Tsubaki, and laughter from Patty.

I just sigh and slump back into the chair again.

-x-x-x-

Sometime later, after the noise has died down a little, Chrona comes into the dining room and sits beside me.

"Hi, Chrona," I say, and she smiles back.

"It's too noisy in there," she says.

I nod. "Did you want something?" I ask her.

Chrona looks away from there and grips the fabric of her robe in her nervous way. "Uhm… I wanted to talk to you… if you didn't mind…?"

I set the soda can down, and fully turn to face her. "Sure, what is it?" I ask her, trying my best to put the thoughts from my 'talk' with Soul and Black Star earlier out of my mind.

"Well…" she begins, but trails off, and fumbles with her robe as she looks around the room, eyes flitting everywhere. I wait patiently for her to continue.

"Uhm, well, it's about Maka…" Chrona begins again. I nod – I had guessed that much – and Chrona pauses a few moments before she says, "Uhm, well, I'm sort of… well, I… like her, see…"

Ah. "Are you in love with her?" I ask, and Chrona nods nervously. "So you have a 'crush' on her, then," I say, and Chrona nods again.

Today certainly was quite the day for the subject of love, I think, but don't say it out loud.

"It's… just, I've been afraid… of what she'd think if I told her…" Chrona says, voice dropping to a murmur again. "I – I mean, Maka is my friend… and all… and she's real nice… but, I'm afraid if I told her, how I felt about her, then… well…" she trails off and doesn't finish.

I pat Chrona on the shoulder. "You shouldn't be afraid of that – I mean, I suppose it is understandable – but Maka is very nice. She's kind and understanding, and even if she didn't love you back, you could still be friends," I say to her.

Chrona nods. "I know, it's just… you know… problems… I'm afraid of what'd she think of me, and… well… am I just being paranoid?"

"Well… I don't know. Unfortunately, love isn't exactly my area," I admit, "You might get better advice out of Liz. She has better experience with that sort of thing."

Chrona nods again, nervously this time. I rub her shoulder and she sighs. After a few moments she says to me, rather suddenly, "Kid, do you like Maka?"

"What?" I say, caught off guard. Honestly, I hadn't considered anything like that about Maka. "Well… she's a really good friend. She's kind and helpful and brave and… everything. You know?"

Chrona nods and smiles, curling her hands in her lap. "Yeah, I guess that's why… you know…" her voice trails off into an inaudible mumble.

"She's perfectly symmetrical, too," I say, mostly to myself this time.

"Yeah, she is," Chrona mumbles.

We sit in silence for a few moments.

"Hey… Kid?" Chrona asks me, breaking the silence. She blushes, and stutters out, "Do you… like me, too?"

"Oh!" Caught off guard _again_. "Well… yes, I do… but as a friend, you know?" I take my hand off her shoulder and scratch at my neck a bit awkwardly. "But, you're a good friend, too."

"Thank you," Chrona says, nodding and blushing more. Awkward silence fills the room as the seconds tick by.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," I say, patting Chrona's shoulder again.

"It's okay…" Chrona says. "I didn't mind. And I know I can talk to Liz about it, now, so…" She smiles at me. "I think it'll be fine… right?"

"I think it will," I say, smiling back. "Well, good luck with that, Chrona."

She smiles wider and nods, the grey blush still visible on her pale cheeks. "Yeah, th-thank you, Kid."

* * *

This one was quite a long one... Kid/Chrona and Maka/Chrona are a couple of my favourite ships, so this was a fun write. Well, please leave comments and feedback if you enjoyed! They help a lot, really.


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